La Rosa
by Sati Naberrie-Snape
Summary: Slightly AU: Why does Erik trim the thorns off of roses for Christine? This myth tells why.


Disclaimer: The Phantom of the Opera and all its contents do not belong to me, but to Leroux, Webber, and Kay

La Rosa

This tells a story long before the time of the Opera House in which the Phantom of the Opera lived in. This is a story tells of an Erik that is both the same and different then the Erik that we know so much about, an older Erik. An Erik who also experienced the same, yet different loss, betrayal and heartache as the Erik we know. This is a myth that has been passed down throughout the ages, and this mythalso explains whyour Erik cuts off the thorns from the roses he gives Christine.

NadirKhan was proud of his position of the only servant of the God of Music. Well, who wouldn't be? To be the right hand man of the only God who could create music as Erik, the God of Music, did. Any old god could create music, but the music Erik created was enchanting. The only downside of his job was the fact Erik often acted like a child. He was often stubborn beyond belief, and had temper-tantrums when he didn't get his way.

Erik wasn't as bad as some gods were about what he demanded Nadir to do. There were some basic demands, like clean the house, and pick up supplies. There were also some weird demands, for when Nadir thought about it, he could rightly say that Erik was, well, eccentric, to be nice about it.

Although most gods didn't need food or sleep, they especially loved throwing parties and inviting all the other gods to such gatherings and they loved to sleep, almost ninety percent of their day was spent sleeping. As a rule, they loved such human frivolities. Except, there was one exception to that rule, and that was Erik. Erik had only one love in life, that one love was his music. Until one day.

Christine loved the woods, she loved everything about them; the way they smelt after a light sprinkle, the way they whispered to her telling her of what was, what they experienced in their long years on this earth. Ever since she was a small girl she came to sit in the woods to daydream and sing. She loved singing; it was her way of releasing all her troubles of the day, and relaxing.

She did not believe herself a beauty, nor anything special, really. She had honey brown eyes, and dark red hair. In any other village, she would probably been the belle of the town, but her town was right near the palace. So, naturally, the most beautiful young ladies in the kingdom flocked through her village to get to the palace to try and gain the vicomte's favor and marry him.

Christine glanced around her, she was almost there; she was almost at her tree. When she was a young girl she found a tree like none other. Its long branches swept the ground, and its roots were large and snarled. Since the day she had found the tree she had came and sung to it, every day. She did not know that this day would be different, that there would be two completely different men secretly watched her sing, a servant ofmenand a master of servants. She did not know that this day would change her life forever.

Vicomte de Chagny was taking a ride through the woods, heaven knows, he needed a small break, with all the bickering going on in his family lately. His brother and guardian, Count Philippe was pushing him as hard as he could to choose a wife. He just couldn't understand why he hadn't found one, with all the beautiful women passing through the land. After a year of telling his brother that he was just waiting for the right one, he had gotten pretty tired.

Vicomte de Chagnywas tossed out of his musing by hearing a wisp of song; he quickly dismounted, tied up his horse, and then walked as silently as he could towards the sound. He didn't want to disturb the person singing, only to catch a glimpse of who he was hearing, to see the angel creating the heavenly music.

As soon as Vicomte de Chagny saw an outline of a figure, he quickly ducked behind a bush. As soon as he became somewhat comfortable, he peered at the figure. It was a girl; she was young and was about his age. He felt a slight fluttering in stomach, and he knew, _this_ was the right one.

Erik's hand flew across the sheet, furiously jotting down notes. He was at the best part of his newest opera. He quickly ran out of room on the current bit of parchment he was writing on. He then reflexively reached for another sheet, but unfortunately his wandering hand only met thin air.

Erik was so surprised at this that he stopped writing. As he realized that Nadir had somehow forgot to get the parchment that he ordered earlier, his face contorted in anger. He then let out a roar that would frighten the bravest of mortals. "Nadir," he watched proudly as even the candlesticks quivered at his bellow. When Nadir didn't come running, Erik, who was very annoyed by then, let out a sigh, then disappeared.

Right now Nadir was crouched behind some bushes in the forest that lay right outside a little village. Nadir had gone to get some supplies from the village for Erik, but when he was heading home through the forest, he had heard the most beautiful voice. So, he did what anyone would do, he found the source. At first he thought it was one of the gods, but after running through his mental list of gods, he found no one with a voice like the one he was hearing. He headed towards the voice then when the voice was near enough; he crouched down and hid himself in some bushes, and to his surprise, the voice belonged to a young human girl.

Yes, Erik was officially annoyed. Why did this always happen to him? He was in the best part of an aria, when he ran out of parchment, and to top it all off, and apparently Nadir decided to flirt with one of the village girls, neglecting his duties. Yes, Nadir was going to be in the dog house for a very l-o-n-g time.

Nadir was quickly jolted out of the enchantment that the girl unknowingly put on him when he saw Erik walking speedily by with a very large scowl on his face. Nadir stood up quickly then, as silently as he could, went to intercept Erik. "Master," he called quietly. Erik didn't seem to hear him, so, he called again a little more loudly this time, "Master".

Erik was brought to a halt at some one calling him softly, "Master," he heard. Erik turned to see Nadir rushing towards him. He took a deep breath, and then opened his mouth wide to start yelling. He was startled into closing his mouth, when Nadir, of all people, shushed him. "Look, over there," Nadir told his master quietly. Nadir led his master to the bushes, which hid the clearing. Erik peered threw the bushes and saw the most beautiful girl. The girl then started singing a song, and in that moment Erik knew he had to have her, for _she_ would be the voice to his music.

Christine started to sing again after her little break, but after a few verses, she was cut off suddenly by the rustling of some bushes near the edge of the clearing. Then a rich-looking man came into view. She quickly turned to flee, for she was young not naïve. She _had_ heard of the tales of the young, rich noblemen who took what they wanted from village girls and were never punished. She would have fled, if he didn't call to her. "Wait!" he called "My name's Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. I'm not going to hurt you. You have a wonderful voice, do you know that?" she blushed wildly. He sat down where she had previously been sitting and motioned her to sit beside him. There they sat until they had to part, but they came back to meet again and again, day after day, slowly falling in love.

Raoul and Christine weren't the only two people falling in love; Erik was also falling for Christine, and falling badly. Unfortunately the happy couple was fated by the gods, well more like the _god_, not to remain happy, for Erik did not like others to be happy when he was not. Knowing that Christine loved someone other then him did not make him happy. So, a plan began to form in Erik's mind to gain Christine's affections.

Next time Nadir went to town Erik ordered him to pick up a peasant suit. Nadir, thinking that this was another one of Erik's eccentric whims, followed the order with out a second thought. Erik then waited until she went to go pick berries in the woods and approached her pretending to be a village lad. "Christine" he said softly "I have been watching you for a time, will you allow me to court you?" he asked.

"Nay," she replied softly looking down, for she didn't want to hurt him, "I'm sorry, I have fallen in love with someone else."

"If I was the God of Music, would you marry me?" Erik asked trying again. Just then Raoul came ridding up and replied for his love, "She said nay, lad, now let her be, for _I_ am her love."

"So be it," cried Erik throwing off his peasant suit, revealing his godly robes. "I am

Erik, the God of Music. You have refused me twice, my little flower, you and your lover." the god said with venom, "Since you have denied me, both of you will pay!"

Erik raised his arms above his head, then swiftly slapped them both down at his sides. In this motion, Erik's magic was at work. His magic turned Christine in to a flower on one of the bushes surrounding the clearing and turned Raoul into many thorns on the bush. "So," Erik said sadly, now slightly regretting his temper-tantrum, "my dear Christine, you will forever be a flower which will be reborn every spring, a beautiful rose, for the color of your hair. The Vicomte de Chagny, will forever guard you from people who will want to pick you for your beauty. You both will signify the love of young couples throughout the ages." Erik sighed, then turned and headed home.

Erik has never been seen among mortals since, but people in the village near the old palace still claim, that on some dark, windy nights, they hear the most beautiful music coming from the woods. Some people still believe that Erik, the God of Music, plays for his Christine, or now commonly known as the rose or La Rosa.


End file.
